Consensus democracy

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Consensus democracy is the application of consensus decision making to the process of legislation in a democracy. It is characterised by a decision making structure which involves and takes into account as broad a range of opinions as possible, as opposed to systems where minority opinions can potentially be ignored by vote-winning majorities[1]. Consensus democracy also features increased citizen participation both in determining the political agenda and in the decision making process itself. Some have pointed to developments in communications technology as potential facilitators of such systems.

Consensus democracy is most closely embodied in certain Western European countries such as Switzerland or Belgium, where consensus is an important feature of political culture, particularly with a view to preventing the domination of one linguistic or cultural group in the political process.[2] The term consociational state is used in political science to describe countries with such consensus based political systems.

The concept of ijma in Islam also addresses state decision making by consensus, albeit by the ulema (Muslim scholars) rather than the population at large.[3]

  1. ^ Glossary definition from Direct Democracy in Switzerland
  2. ^ Lijphart, A., Patterns of Democracy: Government Forms & Performance in Thirty-six Countries. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1999. ISBN 0-300-07893-5
  3. ^ Ijma - consensus of scholars

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